The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968

by Luke A. Nichter Narrated by Kent Klineman

Overview

The unknown story of the election that set the tone for today's fractured politics



The 1968 presidential race was a contentious battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and former Alabama governor George Wallace. The United States was reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy and was bitterly divided on the Vietnam War and domestic issues, including civil rights and rising crime. Drawing on previously unexamined archives and numerous interviews, Luke A. Nichter upends the conventional understanding of the campaign.



Nichter chronicles how the evangelist Billy Graham met with Johnson after the president's attempt to reenter the race was stymied by his own party, and offered him a deal: Nixon, if elected, would continue Johnson's Vietnam War policy and also not oppose his Great Society, if Johnson would soften his support for Humphrey. Johnson agreed.



This eye-opening account of the political calculations and maneuvering that decided this fiercely fought election reshapes our understanding of a key moment in twentieth-century American history.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Both a serious work of scholarship and a romp of a book. . . . Mr. Nichter treats conventional wisdom the way defensive linemen treat quarterbacks, and the result is splendid.”—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal, “The Best Books of 2023: Politics”

“The book is a delightful demolition of the many political myths that continue to muddy our understanding of that election year. . . . Nichter’s book stands out for its clear, direct prose and the scrupulous research on which it’s based.”—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal

“A fresh, authoritative analysis of a pivotal election year.”—Kirkus Reviews

“It turns out that, for 56 years, we’ve been getting much of the well-known history of [1968] wrong. . . . Nichter reveals that what may be the most famous political contest of the 20th century could also be its least understood.”—Wilson Shirley, National Review

“This deeply researched volume overturns much of the conventional wisdom about the epochal election of 1968.”—Jessica T. Mathews, Foreign Affairs

“This is an absolutely riveting read, and proof that in the right hands, history can be re-written for the right reasons.”—Air Mail, “Editor’s Picks”

“Nobody will be able to write a competent history of 20th-century American politics without absorbing the themes and revelations in The Year that Broke Politics. . . . Nichter is a myth-buster . . . nudg[ing] the story . . . away from ideological ax grinding and toward, um, evidence. He dismantles misapprehensions and fabrications both large and small. . . . Nichter’s demolition of [the Chennault affair is] worth the price of the book all by itself.”—Andy Ferguson, Washington Free Beacon

“Makes a stale subject fresh by focusing on the circus instead of the sideshow, a conventional approach to other subjects but counterintuitive somehow in dealing with 1968.”—Daniel J. Flynn, American Spectator

“It takes a courageous historian to challenge [the conventional] narrative. This is just what Luke Nichter does.”—Nathan Pinkoski, Compact

“Luke Nichter gives readers what is surely the last word on this significant election. . . . The Year That Broke Politics answers a lot of lingering questions for history and . . . is a fun read.”—John Gizzi, Newsmax

“A fascinating book that provides insight into how we got to where we are today, and just how much America has and has not changed in the past half-century.”—Dean C. Curry, Providence magazine

“Political history as it should be written: highly readable and designed to report events as they happened.”—J. P. Sanson, Choice

“Well-researched . . . engrossing. . . . Nichter takes a fresh look at 1968 with an eye for reexamining some long-held but questionable beliefs on both sides of the aisle.”—Jay Trachtenberg, Austin Chronicle

“Luke Nichter is a brilliant scholar who knows how and when to keep digging. He is also a clear and compelling writer. The Year That Broke Politics is surprising, revelatory, and riveting.”—Evan Thomas, author of Being Nixon

“The Year That Broke Politics is a masterpiece of political detective work full of fresh anecdotes often anchored with just unearthed archival documents. This is a game-changing book about the politics of 1968 from a first-rate Presidential historian. Highly recommended!”—Douglas Brinkley, author of Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening

“No one is writing the history of modern American politics with more insight and originality than Luke Nichter. In The Year That Broke Politics, Nichter offers a radical revision of the momentous election of 1968. Overturned is the conspiracy theory that Richard Nixon undermined Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam peace initiative. With meticulous research and invaluable new sources, Nichter shows that it was in fact Johnson who undermined Hubert Humphrey’s bid to succeed him—and who came to see Nixon as preferable. This is one of those rare books that recasts a major turning point and renders a shelf-load of earlier studies obsolete.”—Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, and author of Kissinger, 1923–1968: The Idealist

Kirkus Reviews

2023-05-23
A revisionist view of a momentous election.

Historian Nichter, who received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in support of this book, draws on abundant archival sources and interviews with 85 key individuals to create a penetrating examination of the 1968 presidential election, a contest among Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Setting the election in the context of the political, social, and economic upheaval that roiled the nation, the author examines the appeal of third-party candidate Wallace; explains Lyndon Johnson’s tepid support for his vice president, Humphrey; and raises questions about the scandal surrounding the ties between Chinese-born socialite Anna Chennault and Nixon. Anti-war and Black Power protests, along with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, “brought a period of national soul-searching.” Wallace, as “the living embodiment of resistance to social change,” appealed to voters fearful of unrest and rising crime. His critics, Nichter argues, “by remaining focused on his racist origins, missed the deeper bonds he was forming with anti-establishment supporters.” The polls consistently showed that Wallace “received high marks for ‘saying it the way it really is,’ and for having ‘the courage of his convictions.’ ” He has proven to be a model, Nichter asserts, for “every conservative who has run for the presidency since 1968.” Whereas Eisenhower endorsed his former vice president, Johnson, with history in mind, “saw the rightward shift of the nation and came to believe that a President Nixon,” rather than Humphrey, “would be better for Lyndon Johnson’s legacy.” While Humphrey struggled to distance himself from Johnson’s policies, Nixon promised Johnson—through go-between Billy Graham—to promote his position in Vietnam peace negotiations. Accusations that Chennault acted for him in preventing peace talks, Nichter has found, are unsubstantiated; Nixon, he asserts, was trying “to rally people toward Johnson’s Vietnam position, not commit treason against it.”

A fresh, authoritative analysis of a pivotal election year.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159515377
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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